Qiviut

Qiviuq [sg] or qiviut [pl] (/ˈkɪviət/ KIV-ee-ət;

Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᕕᐅᖅ; Inuinnaqtun:
qiviuq;[1] Inupiaq: qiviu or qiviuq[2]
(sometimes spelled qiveut)) is the inner
wool of the muskox. In Inuktitut the same
word can be used to refer to the down
feathers of birds.[3]
A small piece of qiviut wool

The muskox has a two-layered coat, and

qiviut refers specifically to the soft
underwool beneath the longer outer wool.
The muskox sheds this layer of wool each
spring. Qiviut is plucked from the coat of
the muskox during the molt or gathered
from objects the animals have brushed
against; unlike sheep, the animals are not
sheared. Much of the commercially
available qiviut comes from Canada, and is
obtained from the pelts of muskoxen after
hunts. In Alaska, qiviut is obtained from
farmed animals or gathered from the wild
during the molt.

Properties
Qiviut is stronger and warmer than sheep's
wool,[4] and softer than cashmere wool.
Wild muskoxen have qiviut fibers
approximately 18 micrometres in diameter.
Females and young animals have slightly
finer wool.[5] Unlike sheep's wool, it does
not shrink in water at any temperature, but
this means that it also is not useful for
felting.
It is most commonly used for hats and
scarves, and is among the softest as well
as warmest wools. It is very expensive; a
high quality knitted scarf can cost more
than $300 U.S.,[6] but will last over 20 years
with good care.

Production and processing

Qiviut sweater worth about $900 Canadian

An adult muskox can produce four to
seven pounds (two to three kilograms) of
qiviut a year. Qiviut is produced by the
muskox's secondary hair follicles, which
are not associated with sebaceous glands,
and therefore is a much drier fiber than
wool, having only about 7 percent oils. The
hair follicle density is very high
(approximately 42 per square millimetres
[0.065 in2]) and qiviut is shed in a tightly
synchronized spring molting period. The
qiviut will loosen from the animal's skin
and pull away slightly, creating a
"spectacled" look around the eyes and
becoming visible all over the body at the
surface of the pelt. At this stage of the
molt, the undercoat is a short but relatively
uniform distance from the skin. This lends
itself to combing the qiviut from the
animal in a single large sheet. If not
combed, the qiviut will begin to fall out in
clumps or be rubbed off by the animal, and
may be plucked off the ground or bushes,
but qiviut collected this way is of lower
quality and requires more cleaning.

At the Robert G. White Large Animal

Research Station (LARS), a modified bison
crush is used to gently but firmly hold the
muskoxen in place, and the pelt combed
out using a long-toothed comb or hair pick.
After the fleece is removed, it is cleaned by
hand, removing vegetation and other
foreign matter, and then dehaired.
Dehairing is the removal of intermediate
hairs (greater than 30 micrometres
(0.030 mm; 0.0012 in) in diameter).
Dehairing is accomplished by carding as
one would cashmere. Mechanical carding
can cause breakage and weaken and
roughen the qiviut. Because the pelt is
combed rather than shaved, very few
guard hairs come out with the qiviut using
this method. Pelts from hunted animals
are shaved, so the dehairing process in
this case is more laborious. After
dehairing, the qiviut may be cleaned again,
if necessary.
The raw, cleaned qiviut is spun and then
the yarn is washed. Natural qiviut is soft
grayish brown in color, but it takes dye well
and can be found for sale in myriad colors.
Bleaching weakens the fiber, however, so
many spinners and knitters recommend
using only overdyed natural qiviut, which
has darker, more subdued colors.[7]

Domestication of the muskox was begun

with the Musk Ox Project, headed by John
J. Teal, Jr with the first domestic muskox
farm in Fairbanks, Alaska. The project
continues at the muskox farm in Palmer,
Alaska.[8] Oomingmak, the Musk Ox
Producers' Cooperative, was formed in the
late 1960s by indigenous women on
Nunivak Island, with the help of Dr. Teal
and Mrs. L. Schell. It is a knitting
cooperative that works with qiviut and is
still in operation today. The cooperative
has its headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska
and is owned by approximately 200 native
Alaskans from many remote villages in
Alaska.[9] The name of the cooperative
comes from the Inuit language word for
muskox, umiŋmak, "the animal with skin
like a beard."

References
1. Ohokak, G.; M. Kadlun; B. Harnum.
Inuinnaqtun-English Dictionary.
Kitikmeot Heritage Society.
2. Wolf A. Seiler (2012), Iñupiatun Eskimo
Dictionary
3. "Qiviuq" . Asuilaak Living Dictionary.
Retrieved 2007-01-01.
4. Qiviut.com
5. "Fiber characteristics of qiviut and
guard hair from wild muskoxen
(Ovibos moschatus). Rowell et al.
2001, Journal of Animal Science,
79:1670-1674
. Scarves Archived 2011-01-12 at the
Wayback Machine at the Oomingmak
 Cooperative website
7. "The Muskox: wooly and warm in a
northern fiber industry." Deirdre
Helfferich. 2007, Agroborealis 39:1
. Musk Ox Farm Website
9. "Oomingmak Cooperative website" .
Archived from the original on 2010-
07-27. Retrieved 2010-04-02.

External links

Look up qiviut in Wiktionary, the free

dictionary.

Large Animal Research Station

 Muskox fact sheet at Hinterland Who's
Who
Musk Ox Farm (domestication project)
The Papers of Werner Von Bergen on
Musk-Ox Wool at Dartmouth College
Library

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